Request for heart pig stories

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:09 pm


Uh, sorry.

She was started on Lotensin 1mg twice daily! (She previously had lasix for a week, along with bactrim, to clear the crap out of her lungs).

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:11 pm


I had xrays done on three pigs here quite some time ago. I just sent them to Dr. R. and he said that two most definitely have enlarged hearts, and the third is in a 'gray' area. Given the symptoms of the third (Llewelyn) he thinks we should go ahead and start another trial of heart meds.

1 - breed, age and sex of pig: Llewelyn, approx 4, neutered male

2 - brief description of symptoms that made you suspect heart problems: recent weight loss, severe gurgling after neuter surgery which responded well to lasix, much quieter than previously. Yesterday brief rattling, heart murmur, this morning faint hooting.

3 - diagnostics done and the results: heart x-ray taken a year or so ago was normal. Not doing a new one at the moment

4 - treatment, med and dosage: lotensin 1mg twice a day

5 - results of treatment: TBD

6 - other med issues: arthritis in one knee

This is copied from the post I made in October. He didn't seem to tolerate the lotensin, and I stopped after two doses. I'm going to give it another trial, but starting at a much lower dose and working up.

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1 - breed, age and sex of pig: Goldie, 5 year old sow

2 - brief description of symptoms that made you suspect heart problems: very sound sleeper, not particularly active, but has occasional 'zoomies.' A few times I've had trouble waking her up. Gradual weight loss over the past few years.

3 - diagnostics done and the results: Heart xray taken some time ago was originally diagnosed as normal. Submitted to Dr. R who says heart is definitely enlarged.

4 - treatment, med and dosage: lotensin 1mg twice a day

5 - results of treatment: TBD

6 - other med issues:top front incisor was removed - occasionally regrows and has to be clipped.

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1 - breed, age and sex of pig: Snuggles, abby sow, 18 months old

2 - brief description of symptoms that made you suspect heart problems: has always been extremely quiet, even as a baby. Occasionally rattles and hoots (this started last summer).

3 - diagnostics done and the results: heart x-ray taken last summer was said to be normal. Dr. R. says shows definite enlargement.

4 - treatment, med and dosage: lotensin 1mg twice a day

5 - results of treatment: TBD

6 - other med issues: none

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ThePiggiesThree

Post   » Tue Apr 10, 2007 10:53 pm


1 - breed, age and sex of pig
Satin, 2 years and 9 months old, boar

2 - brief description of symptoms that made you suspect heart problems
Morrison wasn't eating right, dropping pellets, had recurring URI, often lay quietly on his pillow, no longer ran to edge of cage. Baytril wasn't working. Soft hooting from the cage in the morning, getting load enough to wake me from sleep until he took a drink of water, coughed and no more hooting.

3 - diagnostics done and the results
Vet suggested teeth problems and trimmed incisors. No help. Baytril for URI. No help. I asked for x-ray. Found large amounts of gas, vet said heart did not look enlarged, no fluid in lungs. Said we could have blood drawn, or try Lotensin.

4 - treatment, med and dosage
Lotensin .1mg 2x per day.

5 - results of treatment
Saw results right away. Morrison was not dropping any pellets by the second day on Lotensin and was eating whole strands of hay rather than the shortest pieces he could find. Still doing well! Weight has leveled off and Morrison is much more active during the day.

6 - other med issues
None, other than barbering of back leg hair. Stopped after Lotensin and is now growing back thick again.

PigWorrier

Post   » Thu May 24, 2007 9:12 am


1 - Abyssnian/5 year old/male
2 - chronic gas/hooting/pea eye/deep sleeper-sleeps with eyes closed/lap pig/lost his wheek/trouble waking up last time under anesthetic
3 - xray showed enlarged hard reaching almost past 4th rib
4 - enalapril 0.5 mg once a day
5 - by 2nd night gas reducing/more energy-running around play area with more zest/3rd night didn't want to cuddle on chest - too energetic to cuddle :O)
6 - has been on reglan to help with the chronic gas/hoping to reduce the reglan and eliminate it/meloxicam for arthiritis on his knee which showed on xray/every since a tooth break in december his incisors need to be trimmed every few weeks because his bite is now off

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LAWomans
"Live Long and Prosper"

Post   » Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:00 pm


Freddie
1-Texal/under 4 years/neutered male
2- Coughing occasionally in the morning, runs around then falls asleep anywhere, sleeps soundly.
3- X-ray shows enlarged heart, no fluid in lungs
4-On .3cc Lotensin twice a day
Too soon to tell if the Lotensin is making a difference.

PigHerder

Post   » Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:48 am


1 - Peeky, sow approx 4.5 yrs old, teddy

2 - always sounded "snuffly" from the time of adoption at 2.5 yrs. Sedentary. Has episodic hooting - a couple episodes severe enough to hear from across the room. Before going on meds, she got so bad she could not walk the 28" back to her hidey hut from the hay box without resting first.

3 - an xray was done, but the heart could not be seen because of all the fluid in and around the lungs. Some liver issues (possibly enlargement) was noted, which the vet said was also indicative of heart issues. There was also some gas present. She had previously received antibiotics with no improvement.

4 - Peeky was put on .2cc q12h of lasix, which was gradually increased to .35cc q12h. Despite the vet preferring enacard, she was placed on lotensin .2cc q24h (first two weeks .1cc q24h). After a number of weeks, I am working on decreasing the lasix. The lotensin was started a few weeks after the lasix.

5 - Peeky had one awful episode of hooting (where she could be heard trying to breathe from across the room) approx 1 week after starting the lotensin. Since that time she has not hooted (about a month or two). Her bald spots are now growing back in. She has the same level of activity, but does not have problems making it across her cage as she did during the worst of it.

6 - Peeky has had chronic hair loss issues. Previously this was resolved only by 2 weeks of maleseb baths, though the diagnosis of fungus did not really make sense. I thought perhaps her skin was the issue, but it remained a mystery problem. It is worth noting that Peeky saw a non-cavy savvy vet several times and the diagnosis she received are as follows: a) (initial exam) "no problem" b) "bordetella" (no discharge was present, other pigs healthy) c) (vet speculation over phone) "asthma/allergies" At the time of proper diagnosis (with a cavy savvy vet and when I could suggest a diagnosis), Peeky was developing one of her characteristic side bald spots (not bilateral), which is currently filling back in approx 2-3 months after starting treatment.

GP Lover
My home, ruled by pigs!

Post   » Sat Jul 14, 2007 10:11 am


1 - breed, age and sex of pig

Elsie is an american short hair, 7yrs + 3mth old, female.

2 - brief description of symptoms that made you suspect heart problems

Came home from work and found her struggling to breathe and crackly breathing sound. She also wouldn't eat in the morning or when I came home from work.

3 - diagnostics done and the results

X-ray - the vet could not see the heart...too much fluid. Ultrasound done the next day revealed an enlarged heart, fluid and an aorta twice the normal size. I was advised she was in advanced heart failure.

4 - treatment, med and dosage

Spent two days in oxygen and given meds by injection. Went home with Bactrim in case of infection, Enalapril at .13 twice/day every other day and Lasix at .3cc twice/day

5 - results of treatment

Within a few days she returned to normal but had lost a lot of weight while at the vets office. Although she has not put the weight back on she continues to eat well, maintaining the weight she is at and runs around like a 1yr old pig at floor time. I reduced her lasix down to .1cc 2 x day and continues to take Enalapril.

6 - other med issues

Requires tooth clipping every 4-6 weeks for the last two years.

PigHerder

Post   » Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:14 pm


Update to my post on Peeky, the 5 year old teddy sow.
Peeky passed at about 9:40am on 07.30.07.

Necropsy showed an enlarged heart and more fluid in the chest cavity than the cavy savvy vet had ever seen before. He noted that there were no tumours and no abnormalities in the abdomen.

chii
I Love Lucy

Post   » Wed Aug 01, 2007 4:18 pm


I picked up Peeky's remains and necropsy report today for PH as she is out of town. She OKed me to go ahead and post the findings here. It's fairly short:

Necropsy: No external lesions. Abdom. NAF, Thorax - chest cavity full of tranovdate [sp? Can't read the writing too well there, it's hand-written.]. Lungs severely consolidated, heart enlarged on examination. Probable cause of death- decompensation [illegible symbol, that I think means "due"] to heart dz [disease].

pinta

Post   » Thu Aug 02, 2007 2:45 am


1 - breed: tricolour abby, Nancy - rescued sow, age unsure probably over 4 years

2 - brief description of symptoms that made you suspect heart problems:

Stately bearing, very gradual weight loss, slight slow down in activity.

3 - diagnostics done and the results.

vet listened with stethoscope and found her heart rate to be perfect. He colour was also good.

6 - other med issues:

hard lump in throat. Had surgery to remove the lump and died on the table even with a doppler monitor in use. Tumour looked to be cancerous and vet sent it out for a histo and also did a gross necropsy.

Polycystic kidneys(PKD) amd one kidney had shut down. Belly full of bloody fluid. Heart completely shot Another tumour further down the throat

Lab results determined the tumour was a thyroid carcinoma that had metasticized to the lymph nodes which explained why she couldn't take the anaesthetic.

The most interesting thing was that I suspected heart and there was absolutely no outward evidence of heart disease. The vet felt the symptoms I observed were most likely due to the lump since she had a perfect heart rate. Yet her heart was shot.

I'm not sure what an xray would have shown but even with a cavy savvy vet familiar with heart issues in pigs, there seemed no reason to do one. Outwardly this pig was the picture of health except for the lump in her throat

User avatar
macepeki

Post   » Thu Aug 02, 2007 3:32 am


1 - breed, age and sex of pig: Sunny, will be 6 approx in September, intact female

2 - brief description of symptoms that made you suspect heart problems: Recent weight loss, which we thought were related to a bout of cystitis she had a few weeks ago. She suddenly started breathing very heavily, and decided to take her to the vets.

3 - diagnostics done and the results: auscultation was normal. An X-ray was taken, and it showed a slightly enlarged heart

4 - treatment, med and dosage: Fortekor, 1.25 mg once a day. For 10 days initially

5 - results of treatment: She started breathing more normally 2-3 days into the treatment. Although she has always been very active she seems to have more energy now, getting back to her old boisterous behaviour of when she was 1-2 years old! We went back for a check up and she will continue to take Fortekor. We will go back in a month’s time for a check up.

6 - other med issues: None, apart of the cystitis a few days before her symptoms started.



1 - breed, age and sex of pig: Nina, was 5 in February, intact female (daughter of Sunny)

2 - brief description of symptoms that made you suspect heart problems: Nina has always been having lots of trouble with her health. She suffered a mild stroke a few years ago. Had surgery to remove a stone in her bladder. Has been suffering from continuous URIs, and had severe bloat a year ago (we thought she wasn’t going to make it). As we had a good experience with the vet who saw Sunny, we took Nina in for a check up.

3 - diagnostics done and the results: auscultation was normal, although he could hear some fluid in her lungs. An X-ray was taken, and her heart seemed quite normal (better than Sunny's was). There was no infection in her lungs

4 - treatment, med and dosage: Because of all the other symptoms she’s been put on Fortekor, 1.25 mg once a day. Has been on it for just 2 days (today will be her third)

5 - results of treatment: Too early to say, although last night we were a bit worried about her as she seemed too quiet and were worried the meds were doing her more harm than good. It was very hot though, and Sunny also started just lying down on the floor. They were both better this morning (it was cooler)

6 - other med issues: Suffers from gas and has to take simethicone daily. Her nose is also wet quite often due to the URIs. The vet confirmed that a cyst we discovered a couple of months ago was a mammary one. It hasn’t grown since we discovered it, and we’re not sure for how long she’s had it. The lungs were clear, so there was no metastasis. We hope it is a benign one. She is too old to go through surgery again and the vet said that he’s only removed skin cysts on piggies. We just hope this won’t cause her any pain or further health problems…


Just an addition to the girl’s family health history. Algenon, son of Sunny and twin of Nina, died of a heart attack a couple of years ago.

GP Lover
My home, ruled by pigs!

Post   » Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:57 am


Update on Elsie, my 7yr 4mth old:

I received a copy of her ultrasound report today and the diagnosis is as follows:

Mitral Valve Endocardiosis/Left Atrial Enlargement/Mitral Insufficiency

Interesting note about Pimobedan - "has sometimes been used when traditional CHF treatments (diuretics, enacard, digoxin) begin to fail. It primary function is as vasodilation with some positive inotropic activity. Profound improvements have been noted in nearly every case with respect to attitude and activity levels within 24hrs. It is not licensed for use in the USA and as such FDA release needs to be granted prior to use. There is a samle FDA letter on VIN and information regarding supplies and use of Non-FDA approved drugs."

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